Rogersville

From July 16:

  Well another week down. It was another week full of finding, finding, and more finding.  So it felt good to get in some good tracting hours. Whitewashing is definitely an interesting experience, when you are starting from Ground Zero it can be pretty tough sometimes. But we are starting to see some progress.

POWER UPS-

This week we were able to go down to Johnson City and do exchanges with the Zone leaders. I went with elder Tanner who I had actually gone with before, two transfers ago. So it was a really fun time going and working with him. He is a super solid dude and we really get along so we had a good day together. We got to teach a couple cool lessons and also do a lot of tracting. 

THE BRANCH-

So far I am loving the Rogersville branch. There are about 35 really strong members here. We have been able to make a good impression on them so far and regain some of their trust that may or may not have been lost in previous transfers by previous missionaries. But they are awesome.

SWEET TOOTH CAFE-

There is a family in the branch that owns a restaurant called The Sweet Tooth Cafe on Main Street in downtown Rogersville. And her rule is if you are hungry, you eat at the sweet tooth. They feed us every Sunday after church and also we can go and get lunch there any time. They are a really cool and funny family so we like going in there.

THE DISTRICT-

On Friday we had another really powerful district meeting. This district has been struggling and having faith to find people and being motivated to go and find new people to teach. So I was asked by The Zone leaders when I gave my training for the district to focus on the importance of obedience and finding. I had a general idea of what to talk about but as soon as I started giving the training the spirit just took over and I went a completely different route. By the end of the training there was one of the sisters in the district who was apparently especially struggling with his aspect of the work, and she just started crying and saying how it's exactly what she needed to hear. That is how the spirit works! And whatever aspects of your life listen carefully, and intensively, and the spirit will direct your paths.

Other than that it was a pretty normal week, we are starting to find some people that have promise in teaching which is always an exciting thing to have going.

Thanks for all the support! 

Elder Roden